


Snow White and her Stepmother were Both Victims

by SteveLovesBucky



Category: Schneewittchen | Snow White (Fairy Tale), Snow White - All Media Types, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Genre: Ageism, Aging, Beauty - Freeform, Dark Fairy Tale Elements, Fairy Tale Retellings, Forced to fight, Gaelic Language, Literature, Misogyny, Patriarchy, Poetry, Power Imbalance, Revisionist Fairy Tale, Songs & Lyrics, Step-children, Step-parents, beauty as power, empty victory, sociopolitical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 21:12:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14481282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteveLovesBucky/pseuds/SteveLovesBucky
Summary: Snow White might have been saved from the murder attempts by her stepmother, the Queen, but she only won the battle; her stepmother was bad for trying to kill her, but she was also a victim.





	Snow White and her Stepmother were Both Victims

**Author's Note:**

> In recent years, I have taken into consideration the fact that Snow White's stepmother might have been bad for her willingness to kill anybody who threatened her hold on the title of "The Fairest One of All" (and by extension the power that she has as a result of a contest to which no woman agreed), but she was also a victim; as an aging woman in a patriarchal society, her worth as a woman is measured by her age and physical beauty and as she matures she becomes painfully aware that this one major weapon that she holds in a world where women have little real power is being destroyed. 
> 
> The Evil Queen was once a girl, herself. Something that she has grown to resemble less and less (to paraphrase a line of Audre Lorde's poetry). Snow White might have won a battle, but she is still vulnerable and, while she might not become a murderer for her own vanity, she could very well find herself in the same spot as her stepmother.
> 
> Until the playing field is level and women have the same opportunities and autonomy throughout life that men take for granted, Snow White (and so many other women) will continue to fight a losing battle.

**‘S e Ìobairtich a Th’ann Ròs Bhàn ‘s a Muime Araon**

Mhaireamh Ròs Bhàn na h-oidhirp mhoirt a muime,  
Ach cha bhitheamh sin an deireamh phàise  
Nam ban; thigeamh aois oirrese cuideachd.  
Is an lorgamh i fhéin mar a muime?

B’ olc a muime ‘na h-oidhirp ga marbhamh,  
Ach nach robh i ‘na h-ainnir fhéin aon uair?  
‘Na mnaoi an saoghal fhireann, bh’ aois a’ milleamh  
A h-aon arm: a maise ‘gas òige.

Glact’ an saoghal nam fireann far nach eil  
Bean ach cho fiach ri maise ‘s òige,  
Càit’ a théid bean ro-sheann airson ginimh  
Cloinne ‘s nach mhaiseach ri fir a thuillidh?  

Cha do bhuannaich Ròs Bhàn ach blàr; cuin’ a  
Bhios bean bhuadhmhor thar an Samhramh Beatha?

 

**Snow White and her Stepmother are Both Victims**

Snow White survived the murder attempts of her stepmother,  
But that would not be the end of a passion  
Of the women; old age would come to _her_ also,  
And would she find herself like her stepmother?

Wicked was her stepmother in her effort to kill her,  
But was she herself not a maiden once?  
A woman in a male world, age was destroying  
Her one weapon: her beauty and youth.

Trapped in a masculine world where a woman  
Is only as valuable as her youth and beauty,  
Where will a woman go who is too old to beget  
Children and whom men will find beautiful no more?

Snow White only won a battle; when will  
A woman be victorious beyond the Summer of her Life?  



End file.
